A Hacker's Best Friend
by alayneni
Summary: Plato was the average Golden Retriever whose world revolved around his owner, Felicity. That was until Oliver came into their life and started to steal her away from him. It was up to Plato to remind Oliver who was the top dog in Felicity's life.


**A Hacker's Best Friend**

 **Disclaimer** : I do not own Arrow

 **Summary** : Plato was the average Golden Retriever whose world revolved around his owner, Felicity. That was until Oliver came into their life and started to steal her away from him. It was up to Plato to remind Oliver who was the top dog in Felicity's life.

He was born in the winter and became very good at winning the competition for his mother's warmth and milk. He beat all of his siblings for the best spot to snuggle into her side and the best place to suckle on her milk. He was the first pup that they were able to wean off of her and thus he was the first pup to be given away.

He didn't move far though, just one townhouse over. A beautiful blonde with glasses took him and named him Plato. He would learn that her name was Felicity and would grow to love and protect her. Their first few months together weren't a smooth ride though. There were constantly things she was telling him not to do. Don't pee on the carpet, don't chew on the furniture, don't leave messes in the middle of the floor and the most important house rule, do not touch the black rectangular boxes. The only good thing was she never told him that it was not play time. She always played with him and cuddled with him. When his body was still small he used to fall asleep on her lap while she was working on the rectangular black box that he would come to learn was called a computer. When his body started to get bigger only the upper portion of his body would fit, till eventually it was just his head resting on her lap. She would always pat him and scratch him just behind his ears. Oh and she never forgot to tickle him at least once a day.

She left him home alone during the day but her face would appear on the computer every so often to check up on him. She even had a device that would throw his ball for him when he placed it on it. Usually, when the sun started setting in the sky, she would arrive home and he made sure to greet her properly, slobber and all. After a few minutes of playing, she would head straight for the leash and they would take a little walk, after which, it was his feeding time.

There had been a few males that came around but he had always been able to chase them off. That was until one day when they were playing in the park. Felicity threw his ball a little too hard and it hit a man on his head. He didn't know why she was apologising. Who told the man to stand in the path of his ball? He picked up the ball and came over to her and waited for her to notice him but she was too caught up in a conversation with the male. He noticed the body signals between them and he didn't like it. The man touched her arm lightly and Plato moved forward to bite him but he still had the ball in his mouth so the move just came out as some strangled growl that drew her attention to him. He made a mental note to self, Rule #1 always let go of the ball when Felicity was talking to strangers.

Once he was home he forgot about the stranger at the park until one day she came home with a new smell. He had spent hours agonising over the smell. He knew he had sniffed it before but he was trying to remember where. Over the course of the next few weeks, she started coming home with the smell more and more and she begun spending more time away from home. He attributed her absence to the smell. Then one Saturday in the park, the stranger was there waiting for them. He was immediately bombarded with the smell. He was the reason that she hadn't been home.

Felicity looked at him with a beautiful smile, "Plato, this is Oliver, Oliver this is Plato,"

Plato growled. It's fair to say that their first meeting did not go very well but Felicity swore that Plato would warm up to Oliver but Plato knew that wasn't going to happen. Rule#2 Do not let Oliver pet you.

The first time Oliver came to the apartment, he took Plato's seat next to Felicity. Plato growled and Felicity actually acquiesced and told Oliver that was Plato's spot. Oliver reluctantly moved to the other side and Plato jumped up on the sofa and placed his head in Felicity's lap. Her hands automatically starting to rub behind his ears as they watched the other rectangular box called a television. Rule#3 No one but Plato gets that spot.

The next time, Oliver was seated on the ground in front of the coffee table with a glass of red wine in front of him. He was waiting for Felicity to come out from the bedroom. They were going out somewhere again. Plato purposely flicked his tail at the table as he passed and knocked the glass over on to Oliver's lap. That was certainly going to cause an incident and it did. Oliver blamed Pluto and Felicity blamed Oliver for putting his glass to close to the end of the table. Their night was ruined. Rule#4 You cannot take Felicity out every night.

The first night Oliver stayed over, Oliver picked up Plato's bed from the end of Felicity's bed and moved it to the living room. Plato then watched as Oliver closed the door to Felicity's bedroom with a large smirk on his face, leaving Plato alone for the first night in his life. Oh how furious Plato had been and the next morning he gave both of them the cold shoulder. Felicity was decent enough to feel guilty but Oliver told her that Plato would get over it. By the second morning, Plato made sure to run right between Oliver's feet as he was walking with two hot cups of coffee on his way to the bedroom. Oliver fell over in a heap, breaking both coffee cups and burning his hands. Felicity had rushed out to find Oliver on the floor and Plato ignoring them from his spot on the bed.

The next major incident between Plato and Oliver happened on a Saturday when Felicity had to work. She had asked Oliver to take Plato for his weekend walk while she was busy. Naturally, Plato had flat out refused to budge when Oliver appeared with the leash. Oh no, he wasn't going anywhere with him. Oliver tried everything to coax him but he ignored him. Soon Oliver was on the phone talking to Tommy. Plato had met Tommy at the park one weekend. He was nice and played fetch with him. Plato listened carefully to that conversation.

"Tommy, the Demon's Spawn is not budging," "Yes of course I tried treats." "Do you want me to get my hand bitten off, I am not going to rub him behind his ears. You know I really hate it when everyone says it's unusual for a Golden Retriever to behave like that and I must be the problem."

If Plato could have smirked, he would have. Everyone else seemed to understand that Oliver was the problem except Oliver. By the end of the day Plato hadn't moved an inch and he watched with pleasure as Felicity angrily yelled at Oliver.

"What do you mean you didn't take him for his walk?" Felicity asked angrily.

"I tried but he refused to budge." Oliver said with a helpless look.

"So if our children were to refuse to brush their teeth, refuse to eat their veggies, refuse to put on their socks for school, you would just let them! And Oh My God," Felicity said slapping her forehead, "Did I just say I wanted to have children with you."

Oliver smiled at her, "Yes you kind of did." He pulled her into her arms and kissed the top of her forehead that she had abused, "Maybe it's time to discuss the next step in our relationship?"

"Babies?" Felicity asked nervously.

"No, we aren't ready for that yet. I can barely handle Plato. I meant moving in together. Come live with me at the mansion. There's plenty of open space and Plato would love it."

"That's a big step," she said hesitantly.

"Think about it. I don't need an answer today."

Plato was confused. She had just been so upset with him and now she was not. How had that bonehead manage to turn it around. That night a major storm blew in. At the first crack of thunder, Plato jumped from his bed and sprinted straight to the closed bedroom door, if he had to claw through it he would. Just as he reached it, the door flung open and Felicity was bending down to hug him. She started rubbing her hands along his back the way she always did when he was scared. Felicity started heading towards his bed, where he knew she would sit next to him and stay with him until the storm was over. As he turned around he caught sight of Oliver glaring at him, another point to Plato.

Over the next few weeks Plato noticed some of Felicity's favourite items were disappearing from their home, the last and most important thing to go was his bed and that was a matter to great concern to him. Oliver had appeared with his leash and he knew that man was the reason behind his stuff disappearing so he did what he did best, he growled.

Felicity laughed. "It ok boy, you're going to like your new home," she said taking the leash from Oliver and securing it on Plato.

Soon he was in the back seat of Oliver's vehicle with his head sticking out the window. They had been driving for a while and the scenery had changed from hard ground to soft grass and trees. They eventually came to a large house and Felicity excitedly jumped out and opened the door for him to jump out. It was a place he hadn't been before but there was plenty of room for him to run around. He raised his head and sniffed the air. It smelled better hear and he could hear more wildlife scurrying around. He saw two birds land close by and went chasing after them.

Felicity called him and he returned to find her at a large door with two unknown females, the younger one bending down and giving him a treat. He liked her instantly. He would come to know her as Thea and she became his next favourite person after Felicity. She never failed to give him a treat and that eventually got them both in trouble with Felicity a little over a year later when the Vet complained that he had put on too much weight.

"Awww Ollie, he's so sweet, how can you call him Demon's Spawn," Thea asked innocently as she scratched Plato's head.

"You call him what?" Felicity asked slapping Oliver on the arm.

"I may have said that once when he was being stubborn," Oliver replied defending himself while he glared at his little sister.

Thea pursed her lips, "No I think that's how you and Tommy regularly refer to him."

Oliver raised his pointer finger to correct his sister but Felicity exploded.

"I can't believe you call him that!" Felicity said and angrily walked inside leaving Oliver outside with a sad look.

Yes, Plato definitely liked Thea. He didn't like the fact that Oliver seemed to put his bed on the opposite side of the mansion to where Felicity was and he made a big protest about it when he slipped into their room while the maid was cleaning it and made sure to pee on his pants. Oliver had been less than thrilled but Felicity managed to get his bed moved closer to her.

They had been living at the mansion for six months when a dog trainer arrived to teach Plato how to walk down an aisle with a basket of flowers in his mouth. He had no clue why he had to do this but both Felicity and Thea seemed eager for him to learn this trick. The last time he had to perform that trick was the day Felicity wore a white gown and walked down the aisle after him to Oliver. Thea had kept a hold on him but he could see that Felicity was really happy. He missed out on the festivities but he did enjoy some of the bones from the event. What he didn't enjoy was Felicity's disappearance the next day.

Plato slept by the front door every night and day since Felicity left. It was the first time they had been apart for so long. Even though he heard her disembodied voice from the small rectangular box called cell phone, it wasn't enough. Every time the front door opened he lifted his head hoping to spot her but he had been disappointed many, many, many, times. Eventually the day came when she was there standing in front of him with her arms open wide for him. He leapt forward and jumped on her causing her to stumble backwards in to Oliver who was barely able to hold them. He licked at her face and wagged his tail furiously.

Felicity eventually got him to sit on the floor and roll over for him to tickle him on his stomach but as she inspected him she seemed to get very angry.

"THEA!" Felicity yelled at the top of her voice.

"Oh your back," Thea said coming in from the dining room.

"What have you done to Plato?" Felicity asked.

"What? He looks fine to me?" Thea responded.

"Really, to me he looks like he put on 20 lbs!"

Thea gave Felicity a sheepish look, "He got a bit depressed after you left so I had to feed him some extra special treats to keep him eating."

"Some? Felicity questioned, "I knew it was a bad idea to leave him for so long. Oliver first thing tomorrow you're taking him with you on your morning runs." Felicity instructed.

"Ah..." Oliver started to protest with a worried look on his face. His relationship with Plato was, well honestly, they didn't have one.

"Don't ahhh me. If you want to continue all of our nice night time activities, Plato will be going with you," She said jamming her pointer finger into his chest.

Oliver groaned and looked at the dog. He would swear Plato did this purposely as punishment for his honeymoon. The Demon's Spawn did not like him at all. The next morning Oliver was trying to coax Plato from his bed. His little sister passed by and laughed.

She bent down to Plato, "You know little fella, why don't you run behind Oliver and try and bite him in the ass?" she suggested and used the hand signal the trainer had taught them when they wanted Plato to attack. Plato immediately perked up at that. Thea had just given him permission to bite Oliver. Twenty minutes later, Oliver could be heard cursing his sister as he ran at top speed with Plato on his heels.

They slowly feel into a routine but two years later Plato began to notice a change in Felicity. No one else seemed to notice it at first and he was very worried. He wasn't sure what the change was but it was in her scent. Nine months later, Plato now had to share Felicity with Alexander but Plato didn't mind, he was an adorable little baby. Two years later Emma would be born and three years after Emma, Jonathan, their last child, would join them. Plato loved all three, even though they had some of Oliver's habits. Since Felicity had children, she also wanted her children to have puppies. Plato thus fathered 8 pups all of which Felicity kept because she couldn't bear to part with one. As the children aged so did Plato and though he tried to keep up with them, it was tiring to do so. He became a bit more grumpy during the day and needed more naps.

Despite the happy family they became Plato never let Oliver touch him. He played pony for Alexander, Emma and Jonathan and was quite happy that when Oliver got them a real pony, they still preferred playing with Plato. Eventually Plato and Oliver came to respect each other and it was all due to the appearance of Roy, Thea's boyfriend and future husband. Both Plato and Oliver gave Roy hell and Roy, being a tad bit slower then Oliver, actually ended up with a few nips from Plato.

15 years after Plato first came into the world, came the day that he was to leave it. It was winter again and he had been going downhill for a few months. It was a slow progression with frequent trips to the vet. He no longer had the energy to keep up with any of Felicity's or his own children. Plato was feeling worse and worse as each day drew on. When the day came that he couldn't lift his head to look at Felicity, that was the day that everyone came by to pat his head and say a few words to him. Felicity wouldn't stop crying. Tommy lifted him up and placed him in the back seat of the car. For the first time ever, Felicity sat in the back with him. The children nor any of the other dogs came with them. He recognised the building when they arrived, the vet. He was taken in and placed on a metal table and they shaved his front paw. He was going to get one of those painful injections. Everyone was giving Felicity a sympathetic look and he was suddenly afraid of what was going to happen.

"It's ok boy. Don't worry. You won't have any pain anymore," She said, crying harder, her bottom lip was trembling and Plato wanted to comfort her but he didn't have the energy to. Instead, he found that he was actually grateful that Oliver was able to pull her into a hug as the vet administered the injection.

"It's ok Plato. I will take care of her for you. You did a good job." Oliver said.

Plato decided that maybe Oliver wasn't so bad after all and he tilted his head slightly towards him. Oliver tentatively lifted his hand and for the first time ever he patted Plato on the head.

And with one last look at his beautiful Felicity, who was patting him just the way he liked, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.


End file.
